


If I Only

by procrastinatingbird



Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 20:36:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13689357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/procrastinatingbird/pseuds/procrastinatingbird
Summary: A study of Eir Stegalkin, loyal Garm, and what happened before and after she fell in the jungle.





	If I Only

Garm fell through the air and above him, the Pact burned.

__________

He and Eir were both young when the world brought them together. Garm’s pack had been driven south by monsters of ice. A young norn, carrying a freshly slain stag, would rarely count as prey. But those were desperate times.

The norn had hair like fire, and she swung a butchering knife desperately at the advancing pack, its oldest wolves rivaling her in height. Garm was young, reckless, and starving. He leapt for the kill behind her, and the norn screamed. The cry became a snarl, and the snarl a howl. Where bare fingers once reached helplessly towards him, claws now slashed downwards, smacking Garm to the ground, shredding the skin on his nose. Garm whimpered, struggling to his feet, only to be cut down again as the transformed norn threw him aside, rushing the pack behind him. His mother gave the cry to retreat. Garm rose to run, but pain shot up his side like fire. _Wait!_ He cried out. _Wait!_

His mother turned with pain in her eyes. The winds were rising, howling between mountain peaks. Garm knew what the pack needed to do. His mother dropped her head and the wolves ran into the distance, their cries disappearing into the wind.

__________

Garm woke alone in an unfamiliar jungle. He had to find Eir. Her ship would have gone down as well, for even as he fell, it was broken, straining, and aflame. He took a step forward, and fell, yelping. Garm struggled up. _I have to find Eir._

__________

The storm had grown worse and the wind whipped against him, battering his injured body. A whisper of smoke, pine wood and fir drifted through the air. Garm struggled through the snow, following the smell to the outskirts of norn territory, stumbling his way to the first building he saw. Perhaps it was best to meet his death at the end of a norn blade, instead of by a winter wind. As his vision faded, the smell of pine wood and fir enveloped him, lulling him into darkness.

Garm woke next to a roaring fire, a blanket draped over his body. Something on his nose itched, and he sneezed, pawing at the offending area.

“Woah there, don’t rub off the poultice!” The norn girl knelt down into his view, placing a bowl filled with -- Garm sniffed, wary -- dried venison in front of him. After a moment's hesitation, he dove in. The girl settled in front of him, staring at him as he ate. “You’re a funny one, aren’t you? To come knocking at my door after I beat you up in the snow.”

Mouth full of venison, Garm looked up at her and tilted his head. The girl laughed. “Though I guess I did let you in. I’m Eir.” She reached a hand towards him, hesitant. Garm nearly snapped at it before remembering that this hand was attached to the nice girl who gave him food. Eir tousled his ears, a small smile growing on her face. “You know, we could be our own pack, you and I. Mine… They’re long gone.”

The meat caught in his throat as he remembered his mother disappearing into the storm. He pulled away from Eir’s hand, eyes downcast. As he feasted on venison, his pack starved in the cold. Eir pulled her hand to her side, looking away from him. “I’m sorry. I would have helped your pack if I could, I just…”

Garm knew the words unspoken. _I was just trying to survive. I was just too late. It just happened too fast._ Sighing, he tentatively rested his muzzle on her leg. Eir tensed for a second, as though about to pull away. Slowly, she relaxed, reaching out again for his ears, methodically rubbing them.

_I know._ Garm sighed. _I know._

__________

Garm had traveled through miles of jungle, following the scent of smoke. But now… There is blood in the air.

_No._

Her bones lay in a circle of ash. Her blood had seeped into the ground on a path a few feet away.

_No._

Sorrow ripped itself from his throat. He screamed as though if he cursed the heavens themselves, it would bring her back. The heavens gave him nothing but the fading of her scent from the earth. Longing for answers, but finding none, he raised his head to the sky and sang his sorrow to the stars. He knew the Mordrem will find him. He would be ready.

Time moved strangely in his grief. It passed in minutes, as he killed all who dared venture near her bones. It passed in hours, as he sang until his voice grew hoarse and the Mordrem came once more. It passed in months, as the ground took Eir’s bones and left him nothing but ash. Rox found him hunched over a spot with only the faintest whispers of an ashen pyre. He followed her to the hearths of Hoelbrak. Every step away was another knife in his heart.

For months, he dreamed of a woman falling from the sky. He dreamed of bones lying still in a circle of ash. He dreamed of a fire-haired girl in a winter storm staring back at him as his pack howled goodbyes in the distance.

The passing of time became unnoticeable. He woke sometimes, in the night, wondering when the fire-haired girl would come back, before he remembered she never would. There was a ache in his heart that never left, a piercing guilt that left him broken. _I’m sorry. I would have helped if I could, I just…_

_I was just too late._

One day he woke to a norn walking in the door with hair like fire and he leapt to his feet, bounding to the door on creaky joints. _Eir! I have been waiting for you!_

“Garm?” An unfamiliar voice. Garm skidded to a halt as the scent drifted closer. It took him a few moments to remember.

Eir’s son. Braham. He wore his hair like Eir once did, fiery strands braided back, barely tamed. 

“Hey boy.” Braham knelt down to pet Garm. “Just thought I’d come by to visit.” He sighed, laying down his bow -- Eir’s bow -- and trudged to the bed in the corner --Eir’s bed, her scent long since faded from the sheets. Garm trotted over to him, and placed his head on Braham’s leg.

“Oh Garm.” Braham’s voice shook. “Do you think she’d be proud of me?”

Garm sighed, nuzzling closer to the boy. _Of course she would._

__________

Eir would be proud of her son. He creates a world in which none fear the wrath of the Dragons. Garm bears silent witness to this new generation of heroes, to the boy with hair like fire. Each night, Garm wakes to the scent of smoke, pine wood, and fir. Sometimes he swears he sees a flash of red hair in the shadows.

It is a quiet winter night in Hoelbrak. The door to a secluded cabin creaks open, though no breeze blows. Garm wakes, blinking in the moonlight. A girl with hair like fire kneels in front of him. “It’s been a while boy. You ready to go home?”

He leaps from his bed to her side. Eir places her hand on his head, and together, they walk into the night.

**Author's Note:**

> A writing commission for path-of-mounts on tumblr. Consider following me at lesbians-saving-tyria for more GW2 content!


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